Tag: David Grégoire

Skiing in a Football Stadium: Laval’s Inaugural Sprint Draws Nearly 125 Racers

Marc-André Bédard (l) leads David Grégoire (second from l) in the first-ever Sprint Rouge et Or on Jan. 28 at Laval University’s football stadium. Grégoire went on to win the lap-by-lap elimination sprint, in which skiers rounded a 400-metre course designed by Pierre Harvey and tried to stay in the top six.

QUEBEC CITY — After the World Cup sprints took place in the historic part of the city last year, Quebec City recently saw another spectacle in cross-country skiing, with Laval University bringing the action even closer to the crowd. With the help of local Olympic skiing hero Pierre Harvey, organizers created Sprint Rouge et Or with a “last-to-go” formula, a new event on the athletics track at the Rouge et Or football stadium.

This past Tuesday night, close to 125 athletes participated in the inaugural race on manmade snow at the Laval University campus. The cold temperature didn’t stop the enthusiasm of skiers from ages 7 to 54, and a couple of “retired” skiers even put their skis on.

Harvey, the father of Quebec’s current nordic-skiing favorite Alex Harvey, designed he 400-metre track complete with several bumps — some as high as 10 meters — to challenge the skiers. On Tuesday, it was well-groomed with hard-packed snow.

Compared to other urban sprints, the biggest difference and advantage was that spectators could visually follow racers from start to finish, seeing all of the action. The big screen at the opposite end of the field was great for zooming in on the expressions and emotions of skiers as they passed by the camera.

With a friendly atmosphere, good vibes filled the stadium as well-known commentator Randy Ferguson gave the play-by-play. The evening started with a sprint prologue for all 11 categories. The beauty of the event was that anybody could enter it.

“We had a great participation of skiers in the region but also outside,” event director Martin Guay said in a Rouge et Or press release, according to a translation. “The course was world-class through the snow HKD Turbo and the work of the groomer Printoh, Inc., not to mention the efforts of volunteers and field staff of the Department of Sports Laval University.”

Camille Pepin leads Claude Godbout (r) in the women’s race at the inaugural Sprint Rouge et Or on Jan. 28 at Laval University’s snow-covered athletics track in Quebec City. Godbout went on to win and Pepin placed second.

Last-to-go

The big show started at 21:00 [9 p.m.] with the last-to-go: eight laps for the women and 10 for the men. Racers had two laps to position themselves in the pack before elimination started, after which the last four skiers on each lap were pulled out. The idea was to have six or seven skiers remaining for the final lap.

The women separated quickly after Canadian national-team biathlete Claude Godbout broke away at the beginning of the second lap. Only Camille Pepin of Laval could match her pace. There were a couple of good battles at the end of the pack to stay in the race. Godbout ended up winning, Laval’s Pepin and Myriam Paquette finished second and third, respectively.

The men’s race was closer to the finish with a pack of 20 fighting sticking together. After 10 laps, Laval’s David Grégoire outsprinted biathlete Marc-André Bédard and Frédéric Touchette (Laval) to take the win. Bédard placed second and Touchette was third.

Overall it was a great evening despite some delays; most everyone seemed to really enjoy the moment. After expecting a smaller turnout for its first event, organizers are planning future sprints there and hoping to one day fill the 15,000-capacity stadium.

While the spectacle drew participants from various regions in Quebec, organizers are considering inviting athletes from other Canadian universities as well as the U.S. According to the release, the Rouge et Or team already participates annually in about half a dozen of NCAA races in the northeastern U.S.

“We’re already thinking about next year!” Guay said.

Results: Prologue | Final results

January 31, 2014
New Year’s Day Workout: Super Session with Laval University
Frédéric Touchette (Laval University) en route to second in the Eastern Cup skate sprint Dec. 21 in Craftsbury, Vt. (Photo: Rouge et Or)

Luc Germain, head coach of Rouge et Or cross-country ski team at Laval University in Québec City, agreed to share part of the training plan of his student-athletes during the holidays as they are getting ready for racing the EISA circuit in U.S. in the upcoming weeks.

***

Laval head coach Luc Germain prepping skis for athletes (Photo: Rouge et Or)

“First of all, I wish Happy New Year to every skier!

For the university athletes that I coach, the holidays give them the chance to take time off school to do more distance and intensities training. During the semester, it’s almost impossible for my athletes to do long hours with their busy schedule, like most people working during the week.

The most important for us is to start with a couple of distance trainings before [revving] up the speed and do some intensities during the holidays in order to get the body in race shape.

Here’s typical training session I give to my athletes to do between family reunions.

I know that maybe on January 1st, some of my athletes will be tired after a good celebration of the New Year, so I suggest them to come back to the basics and concentrate on skiing well technically and do only the first part of this super session, but if they can handle more, then the whole workout will leave them tired and happy!
Super Session
- Warm-up: Starting by doing a good 30 minutes warm-up at a slow pace before starting your intensities.
It’s also a good idea to include some drills to improve your technique and work on your weaknesses. Here are a couple of examples of what you can do; combine 1-2 of the drills below and adjust their length in function of the intensities that should remain your main focus.

Since it’s during holidays, you probably have friends or family at home, why not take your time warming up and ski with them and give them a few tips!

Find a challenging hill and try to stay in one-skate as long as you can while keeping your technique fairly good during the process.

Do offset [V1] with only one pole, the one that is giving the power climb a hill (the higher pole)

Do free skate during 10-15 minutes and make sure to use your legs efficiently and get your weight at the right place on the skis
- Short Intensities:
Do two sets of five repetitions each x 1 min in Zone 4, recovery time should be the same as the intensities lengths (1 min). Between sets, take 5 minutes to rest and get ready for the next and final set. Your effort should be at approximately 90 to 100 percent of your maximum heart rate.

These short intervals will have an effect on both, maximal aerobic power and anaerobic capacity, two important qualities in skiing, but are only slightly developed through continuous training. Beware, not to go at your maximum at each repetition, but to choose a degree of intensity that you will achieve the expected number of times without having to slow down.
- Cool-down: Make sure to take 10-15 minutes to cool-down the body after the intensities.
I think it’s a really good typical session for skiers whom will be starting their racing season mid-January. Finally, one last coach tip, don’t forget to take one day off per week, it’s as important as a training session, especially for the full time student and workers and even more during the busy holiday weeks.
I hope you [make] good skiers’ resolutions for 2014 and take advantage of the most awesome winter sport. Have fun on skis!”

David Grégoire (Laval University) racing to 15th in the Eastern Cup skate sprint Dec. 21 in Craftsbury. (Photo: Rouge et Or)
January 1, 2014

Tag: David Grégoire

Skiing in a Football Stadium: Laval’s Inaugural Sprint Draws Nearly 125 Racers

New Year’s Day Workout: Super Session with Laval University